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Have you ever been admitted to the hospital for surgery or illness? Have you ever caught an infection unrelated to your surgery or illness? If so, you have been the victim of a nosocomial infection also known as hospital-acquired infections.
C. difficile, MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), are well known, but there are many others.
Do you know that you have more chances to die from a nosocomial infection than from a car accident?
Every year in Quebec, 90 000 people are afflicted by these infections and, of that number, 4000 die immediately.
A minimum of 50% of these infections could be avoided by better prevention and control measures such as strict hand hygiene.
Nosocomial infections are also very costly to the health system. On average they cost 180 millions dollars yearly.
By joining ADVIN you contribute to the promotion of safe care and quality hospitals.
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Written by Christine Besson
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Tuesday, 07 June 2005 |
According to a national survey sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), a majority of consummers (66%) are aware of the problem of antibiotic resistance and its consequence, the rise of dangerous infectious diseases. The majority consider the problem to be extremely serious for the US healthcare system overall.
The survey shows that 52% of consummers have contracted a serious infectious disease in the hospital or in the community or know someone who has.
People who have contracted one of these infectious diseases consider that it was extremely severe, actually the most severe medical condition they ever had.
However, despite this high level of awareness, most people do not realize the extent of the problem neither its consequences on public health and hospitals finances ( over 5 billions US$ per year according to the CDC, Center for Diseases Control).
The study was done in May 2005 with a national sample of 1003 adults over 18 across the nation. The margin of error is +/- 3,1 %. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals founded the survey.
NFID site
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Latest News
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Written by Christine Besson
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Thursday, 26 May 2005 |
.png) More and more articles appear in the American daily
press revealing a growing concern for the problem of hospital-acquired
infections particularly associated to MRSA.
Health Grade Inc., a healthcare quality ratings and services company, released
a report in May 05 on the state of patients' safety in American hospitals.
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) statistics - 2001 to 2003 - every
six months more Americans died in hospitals than during the entire Vietnam War.
Amongst these patients' safety incidents (medical errors etc), hospital-
acquired infections affect over 2 million patients per year and of those,
90,000 die. The Health Grade report indicates that the rate of these infections
worsened significantly in the last four years, especially antibiotic-resistant
bacterial infections: harmful bacteria are surviving to more antibiotics, thus
arising the fear of a "superbug" resistant to all existing
antibiotics. " It is scary to think about a superbug that could be
resistant to every antibiotic we have available which is a definite
possibility" says A. Wong-Beringer, Pharm.D. associate professor of
clinical pharmacy at the USC School of Pharmacy. |
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Written by Christine Besson
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Wednesday, 25 May 2005 |
 Today,in Parliament, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt explained the governement plans to tackle MRSA and cut down on all hospitals-acquired infections.
Plans for new powers to sanction hospitals and care homes which do not meet
tough hygiene standards were outlined by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt today.
Ms Hewitt said: “Tackling MRSA and other healthcare associated infections is
a top priority for this Government."
“The NHS has made a good start with many hospitals already cutting their MRSA
rates."
“But more work needs to be done. We want an effective inspection regime that
can really make a difference and drive up standards of hygiene and infection
control across the board."
“Hospitals which fail to meet standards in the code will be issued with tough
new improvement orders."
Mrs Hewitt also declared that food production factories had tougher and higher hygiene standards than hospitals and that is not acceptable. Mrs Hewitt was previously Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
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Latest News
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Written by Christine Besson
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Saturday, 21 May 2005 |
 May 18th, 2005
At a parliamentary commission yesterday,
Minister Philippe Couillard admitted that hospitals “have forgotten essentials.
The percentage of those who wash their hands between patients is very low, the
poorest performers being doctors.”
Such situations are seen in hospitals and healthcare centres throughout the
world as well as in Québec. They are a key factor in spreading bacteria and
causing nosocomial infections. Enough to make Dr. Semmelweiss cry in his grave!
To know what happened to Dr. Semmelweiss, click on his name.
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Latest News
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Written by Christine Besson
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Thursday, 19 May 2005 |
 May 17th 2005.
London: the Queen's Speech
Amongst other health issues, a major Bill outline a plan to combat hospital superbug MTSA. The Health Improvement and Protection Bill will mean hospitals managers could face fines if their wards are not kept clean. It is hoped rates of MRSA will fall.
Responding to the Queen's Speech, Mr James Johnson, chairman of the British Medical Association said:
"The plans to ensure care homes and independent
healthcare providers, as well as NHS sites, take action on hygiene are welcome.
However, current rates of MRSA are still high. These proposals are scanty on the
detail of concrete measures to reduce healthcare associated infections. We look
forward to examining specific plans to tackle these issues as soon as possible.
The government must put up dedicated resources if patients and healthcare
workers are to be protected."
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